This global trend has particular pertinence to Africa, because Africa has the largest concentration of young people in the world. According to the United Nations, 226 million youth aged 15-24 lived in Africa in 2015 representing nearly 20% of Africa’s population, making up one fifth of the world’s youth population. Also, Africa is one of the continents that has the largest raw material for global industrialization; unfortunately despite the enormous population and raw materials, the same continent is the poorest in the world.
Education is critical for development and helps lay the foundations for social well-being, economic growth and security, gender equality and peace. Education in Africa cannot be over-emphasised as it is undoubtedly the most important factor to consider if Africa has to develop and advance as a continent. However, most children in some parts of Africa still do not have access to education at all.
“More than 150 million children ages 3 to 5 do not have access to pre-primary education, including more than 80% of children in low-income countries” (source: GEM Report: Education for people and planet: creating sustainable futures for all (2016), p.428). It is also a fact that “more than half of children who have not enrolled in school live in Sub-Saharan Africa”
It can be seen that education is essential in achieving economic growth, stability and social inclusion since it grants individuals from very poor backgrounds the opportunity to make life better for themselves through education. Countries where there are high literacy rates prosper more than countries with very low literacy rates. This is because the world is in a technological and innovation stage where the bulk of the workforce must be literates and computer adaptive.
The problem of lack of education is gradually waning in Africa as more people are getting enrolled in schools, particularly females. Nevertheless, access to education does not automatically result in quality of education and educational relevance. One of the many challenges we face with education in Africa is the lack of educational relevance to the needs of our society. Our education is not tailored to solve the problems that we face in our society. Little has been done to revise the educational structure and curriculum that our ancestors used in their days. We are still copying the western style of education which is relevant to them but of little use to us in Africa.
If the quality of education needs improvement, just the teachers alone can do it, but they need to be equipped with resources and properly qualified training programs. They are the keys of education success, because they mentor the students and give them the knowledge and explanations they require. Now, there is a shortage of these kinds of teachers and mentors in general. The African Ministry of Education reports that teacher certification processes need to be implemented. Detailed certification processes are going to ensure that teachers are going to be the most professional they can be, and students will benefit from it the most particularly in the exact studying fields. But also, it is necessary to keep best teachers in the system. The reason being that they are underpaid, they are leaving teaching jobs and searching for higher paid ones. Salary is not the only issue for them, but morale too, as well as career opportunities. There is a lack of motivation, and that impacts how they can inspire students to learn if they are not inspired to teach. Governments and education systems need to look into this problem as well.
Africa needs to learn from Finland, not to just give out dry information and teach basic skills, but to let students enjoy the process of learning, spark their creativity and independence. That includes the resting times between classes, creating an opportunity to have hobby time, as well as process the information which they got from teachers and books. Students in Finland usually have the same teacher for 6 years, that means they bond with that person and get used to him. Communication changes based on that long relationship. If a teacher can spend more time with a single student, it is encouraged to do so, as that can help struggling students to get their grades and motivation up.
